That Dress
by alinaandalion
Summary: Nate and Sophie meet up in that storage closet during "The Rashomon Job."  And, five years later, Sophie wears a very familiar dress.  For once, Nate picks up on the hint.
1. Chapter 1

Nate leaned against the wall of the storage closet. A black bag sat at his feet, and he kept his eyes on the door. He wasn't disappointed. A few minutes later, a dark-haired woman slipped into the small room.

"Sophie." He smiled when she whirled around and glared at him. "Fancy seeing you here."

"How long have you been waiting on me?" She crossed the room and grabbed the bag, gaining back some of her normal composure. "And, how did you figure out that I might have another identity?"

"I thought that it was highly unlikely that you would be stealing art as a duchess. Too high-profile." He scuffed his shoe against the floor. "Care to share what you're planning?"

She smirked at him and gathered her hair into a side ponytail. "And ruin the fun of the game? Not a chance. Have you even figured out what I'm after?"

"I have a few ideas."

"Going to share them with the class?"

"What do you think?"

She shrugged. "Fair enough." Turning around, she presented her back to him. When he stared at her, she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Come on, Nate, if you're going to insist on bothering me, the least you can do is be useful."

He eyed her back. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Unzip me?"

He reached forward with tentative hands and grasped the fabric. Her skin was silky underneath his knuckles, and he grasped the zipper, pulling it down a little. She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, her breath coming a little quicker. He tugged some more on the zipper, and she stepped out of his reach.

He was gazing at her with eyes that were darker than before, his pupils a little dilated. A few thoughts passed through her mind, the majority of them involving him pushing her against the wall and kissing her senseless. She shook her head as her eyes flickered downwards to focus on his wedding band.

She reached back down for the bag, holding her dress up with her free hand. "How are Maggie and Sam?"

It was like a bucket of cold water had been tossed on him; he blinked and followed her path across the room. "They're fine. Why?"

"I think we've established that we're at the very least acquaintances. Am I not allowed to inquire about your family?" She pulled out a white lab coat and black flats.

"I guess not," he replied slowly.

She met his gaze and huffed, motioning for him to turn around. It wasn't that she cared if he saw her change; it would just severely damage this game they had been playing, and as long as he was married, she had no intention of going past innocent flirting (maybe things got a little more than innocent at times, but she wasn't perfect, and he hadn't been protesting). He turned his back on her, and she let the dress drop to the floor, stepping out of it and her heels, the floor cool against her bare feet. She flushed a little when she glanced at him, but she pulled on the coat and slipped on her flats.

"I'm done."

He turned around slowly, not putting it past her to give him permission to see a little more skin than he should. Luckily, though, she apparently thought that the earlier incident was enough. Then, when he actually looked at her, he realized that she wasn't wearing anything under the lab coat. Any handle he had on the situation was gone.

He couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face. "You're posing as a doctor now?"

"Of sorts." She gave him a wicked grin. "I have to give to work, Mr. Ford. Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing?"

He didn't like her having the upper hand, so he took a few steps forward, effectively pushing her back towards the wall. "I think arresting a thief is high on my priority list."

"Just one problem with that plan," she breathed out; he was so close, and her body was straining against her will to touch him.

"What would that be?" He couldn't help it. He reached out and trailed a finger down her arm and watched as she shivered, her eyes fluttering closed (if he could do that with a single touch, he hated to think about what she would do if they ever did end up in bed together).

She licked her lips and looked up at him. "You can't prove anything. Now, may I go?"

She didn't want to leave; she quite liked that he was close enough to wrap her arms around and pull him into a kiss. However, she knew the smart thing was to walk out that door and forget about the fact that his blue eyes were so dark in the dim room, and he had to be thinking about pinning her to the wall and taking what he wanted. His hand closed down on her wrist, right over the pulse point, and she had to fight against the shuddering breath that almost rushed past her lips. It wasn't fair that he could affect her like this.

"Have a pleasant evening, then, Miss Devereaux," he murmured, his lips brushing against her ear. "Until we meet again."

"Always," she whispered in answer.

She slipped past him, not making an effort to brush against him, but not stopping herself either when she did. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him clench his fist, and she smiled as she let herself out of the storage closet. He took a few more minutes after she left to compose himself. He looked down at the floor and saw that she had discarded her pink dress like so much trash. He shook his head and shoved it back into the black bag. No matter how much he tried, it would be a long time before he would forget about her in that dress.


	2. Chapter 2

He was waiting downstairs with Eliot for Sophie to finish getting ready. She had taken over his spare bedroom a long time ago to use as a changing room before cons. Hardison and Parker had already left to get into position; Hardison would be spending the evening in the van, and Parker had insisted on leaving early to crawl into the air ducts (Nate hadn't bothered arguing with that; it was something he had learned a long time ago when it came to Parker: for most things, simply shrug and let it pass). To Sophie's credit, she was never late, so she should be coming downstairs any minute.

He looked up. Apparently, she was ready since her heels were clicking against the metal staircase. He saw her legs first and followed the line of sight up to the hem of her midnight blue dress. A large diamond necklace was draped around her neck. He frowned, because he felt like he had seen that dress before, but that couldn't be right. Sophie never wore the same dress twice (unintentionally, that is), and he could swear that he had seen her in an exact replica of that same dress five years ago in a tiny storage closet.

She smiled, her lips stained a dark red with her lipstick. "Like something you see, Nate?"

He returned her smile and placed his hand low on her back to guide her out the door, Eliot following behind. Unlike that night five years ago, she looked like a queen of ice, all softness and curves with a razor sharp edge that would cut any man to pieces who dared to get close. He would prefer her without the necklace and the shoes and with her curls falling looser down her back. He liked her broken down (it was both easier and more dangerous; a vulnerable Sophie did not make her a safer woman).

"Recycling?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She cocked her head to one side; her smoky eyeshadow made her eyes look jet black. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"Can we get a move on?" Eliot growled from behind them. "We have to make it to the party before it's over."

"As much as I hate to agree with Mr. Grumpypants, I have to say that he's right," Hardison chimed in through the earpieces. "Everything is in full swing here, and Parker is itching to get started. I don't know how much longer I can convince her to hold tight."

"Don't worry, we're on our way," Sophie replied calmly. "Nate? Shall we?"

Nate shrugged and applied a little more pressure on her back, splaying his fingers out, his hand slipping a little lower than it should. She smirked and sauntered out of his apartment, her hips swaying. He trailed after her.

The only thing he didn't like about pulling cons at parties was that it was always very late by the time he managed to kick the team out of his place. He was glad that the next stage didn't require any of them to get out of bed before lunch. It was nearing four o'clock, and when he walked back down the stairs to see Sophie sitting at their conference table sans necklace and shoes, her lipstick long worn from her mouth, he knew it was going to be a long while before he actually made it to his bed.

She curled her fingers around a glass of bourbon. "Care for a drink?"

"That's my alcohol, so I should be the one asking that question." He slid into a chair beside her and picked up the mostly full bottle, pouring a small amount into the glass she must have set aside for him.

She just shrugged and sipped at her own drink. He lifted his glass to hers in a small toast and drank most of his in one gulp. She frowned at his speed but didn't say anything. He poured more into her glass as he topped up his own.

"You did a good job tonight," he finally said, itching to break the silence (and to distract himself from staring at the impressive amount of her legs that was revealed).

She studied him and swallowed down her bourbon in one go. She narrowed her eyes and murmured, "You always do know just what to say."

She placed her glass back onto the table and turned her chair to stand up. He moved without thinking, blocking her path. She sank back into her chair with a huff.

"Get out of my way," she snapped, shoving at his leg with her foot.

He leaned closer, placing his hands on the armrests of the chair. She watched him carefully, no longer interested in getting past him as he moved in. He slipped a hand to the back of her head into her soft curls and encouraged her to scoot forward. She complied, and when he kissed her, she let her eyes flutter closed as she reached out blindly to grasp onto his arms. His lips teased at her mouth, slow and gentle, and she sighed against the pressure, chasing after more. Her fingers tightened around his arms, and she arched up into him, opening her lips to his questing tongue.

He moaned as his tongue rasped over hers and explored her mouth, tasting bourbon mingled with promises of more. His free hand wandered over her knee, underneath her dress and up her thigh. He waited for a moment to see if she would stop him, but she just pulled his head back down for another kiss. His fingers teased along the line of her underwear, dipping underneath the fabric. She broke away from his lips, gasping, her hair falling like a curtain around both of them. Her head fell forward to his shoulder, and she shuddered at the contact. He pressed a little more and slipped two fingers inside her. Her legs fell open around his thighs, and her nails dug into the fabric of his shirt.

Her mouth landed near his ear, her shallow breaths whispering onto his overheated skin. Her hips rocked in time with his hand; he watched her face as her eyes slipped closed. She came in silence, a gasp as her body stretched tight and released. He waited, giving her a few moments to regain her balance before removing his fingers and leaning his forehead against hers.

"I've been thinking about that all night," he said in a low voice.

She licked her lips and met his gaze. "I hope I didn't disappoint?"

He gave her a wide grin and kissed her lightly. She held him there when he tried to step back, her tongue pushing past his lips into his mouth. Her hands tangled into his hair, tugging on the curls at the back of his neck. She slipped one hand in between them, down his chest to the bulge in his pants, scraping her nails softly against the fabric. He groaned and moved his mouth to her neck, devouring her skin and not caring that he might leave a few marks behind. She started to work at his belt buckle, but he reached down to stop her.

"Why don't we move upstairs?"

Her lips quirked upwards into a wicked smile. "Okay."

She slipped off the chair past him and was already halfway to the staircase before he followed behind. He caught up to her and managed to grab hold of the zipper, mind flashing back for a moment again to that storage closet. This time she let him tug the zipper completely down her back, revealing her smooth back. He pressed open-mouthed kisses along her shoulders and was working lower when she moaned and whirled around, her lips claiming his. He pinned her to the railing, the front of her dress slipping lower along her breasts.

He cupped one roughly through the fabric, and she moaned, her mouth falling open as he trailed kisses along her jaw to her neck and lower. He pushed the dress down, grinning as he took a nipple in his mouth.

"Nate." She bit down on her bottom lip; his hands were everywhere, and it was all she could do to keep up.

He was trying to coax her legs to wrap around his waist, but she pushed past him to the upper region of steps. She stepped out of her dress and looked back at him, an eyebrow raised in challenge. He stepped forward after her, a hungry look in his darkening blue eyes that reminded her of a lion on the prowl. The heat low in her stomach snarled in response. His bedroom door was open, so she walked inside and slid onto the bed. He rounded the corner a few seconds later, his gaze trained on her.

He slipped out of his shoes and managed to unbuckle his belt before she crawled along the bedspread on her knees and grabbed the waistband of his pants. She whipped the belt from the loops of his pants and made quick work of the buttonfly. She forced his pants down along with his boxers and took him in her mouth, her lips closing and swallowing him down. He nearly collapsed onto her, but he propped himself against the bed, letting one hand slip into her curls. The wet heat of her mouth and her tongue teasing against him pulled him closer to the edge. He felt the slight pressure of her teeth and couldn't help the groan that fell out of his mouth.

"Sophie," he choked out.

She released him and looked up at him. Her lips were swollen from their kisses, and her eyes were black like a starless night; he smiled. She had never looked more beautiful. She laid back on the bed, inviting him to join her. He crawled up to her, skimming his hands along her hips and up to her breasts, his mouth finding sensitive skin on her neck. Her fingers worked down the front of his shirt, unbuttoning it. He shrugged it off and tugged her underwear down her legs.

He hovered over her, and with a roll of her eyes, she pulled him down to her, kissing him firmly as he pushed inside her. Her lips broke apart from his and her nails scraped down his back. He rocked his hips into hers, coaxing her into responding with movement of her own. He turned his attention back to her breasts, teasing her with his tongue and teeth. She moaned, the sound soft and low, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her head fell back against the pillows, and he slipped a hand between them. His finger flickered against her in time to the rhythm of his thrusts.

She could feel her body spiraling together. She kept her eyes trained on his, black on blue, and as she bucked her hips into him, she broke apart, his name something between a moan and a whisper on her lips. He groaned and thrust into her again, his fingers still working her through the aftershocks that tingled along too-sensitive nerves. She couldn't catch her breath. She tilted her mouth up to his. Their mouths met in a sloppy kiss, tongues pushing and taking. The tightness filled her, and with a cry that started from her feet and finally spilled out of her mouth, she came, her nails digging into his skin, her teeth landing on his shoulder. She pulled him over the edge with her, and he shuddered as he spilled inside her, her body still quaking around him.

He fell forward, landing part on her, part on the bed. She laughed, tired, and shoved him more to the side so she wouldn't suffocate. He rolled onto his back and grabbed her arm so that she moved with him, her head ending up on his chest.

She traced a pattern along his jaw. "So."

"Yeah." He ran a hand through his hair and struggled to keep his eyes open. "You'll still be here when I wake up?"

"Of course." She pressed a kiss to his cheek and snuggled up against him.

He tugged the covers out from underneath her and spread them over their bodies before wrapping an arm around her waist and holding her close as he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
